Creating opportunity at every turn

Belgravia Group stays involved in the brokerage community as members and sponsors of the Chicago Association of Realtors and the Women’s Council of Realtors, often hosting and participating in events. More directly, the company gives its VIP brokers and their clients a chance to buy homes in one of the company’s new developments before they open to the general public, giving those agents the chance to share inside information and make sales early in the process.

“Brokers put their reputation on the line when they introduce a developer to their clients,” Brooks says. “As a developer, our job is to honor that relationship by taking exceptional care of that client while keeping the broker in the loop every step of the way. In the end, brokers continue to bring their clients to Belgravia because they can stake their reputation on us. We often hear brokers in our sales centers telling their clients, ‘You don’t need to worry, this is a Belgravia development.’”

Some development firms have taken matters further by establishing their own marketing divisions to sell to consumers. Even those companies profit from working with outside agents on sales, particularly when properties hit the resale market. In 2014, Related Midwest started its own brokerage, Related Realty, to help streamline the process.

Related Realty has 50 agents that the developer can call upon to market properties as they become ready. They have inside information on all of the company’s developments and access to a huge platform of resources within Related that the company curates for them. The company works to keep agents updated on new projects that they can discuss with their clients and the building’s timeline.

“They sell our developments, they sell third-party developments, they preview our projects with us and they do market studies for us,” Van Horn says. “They’re in the know, and it’s great as a developer to go out and have this insider knowledge right there.”